No one eagerly anticipates boarding this particular aircraft—unless, of course, you’re an English soccer star needing a lift to Kansas City.
The Euro 2024 finalists arrived in Missouri on Saturday, opting for a charter plane over private jets. Interestingly, this plane is part of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) fleet known as ‘ICE Air’.
The charter company, GlobalX, formerly known as Global Crossing Airlines, holds a contract with ICE. This same aircraft has been used previously to transport deportees to countries such as Haiti, Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala.
Despite this, England’s footballers, including Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice, seemed unfazed as they posed for a team photo on the tarmac in front of the plane. The mood was certainly more cheerful compared to a starkly different scene involving the same aircraft.
A video released in March last year depicted a far grimmer scenario. It showed prisoners being forcibly removed from the plane by heavily armed Salvadoran police, then herded onto buses bound for CECOT, El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison.
England’s players pose on the steps of the plane after touching down in Kansas City
The same plane (pictured center) has been used by ICE to deport alleged gangbangers
In a video posted by Donald Trump, prisoners can be seen getting dragged off the same plane
The flights caused huge controversy at the time, with the planes taking off from ICE’s Harlingen, Texas, base even as a legal fight to stop them was underway.
Among the deportees on board the planes was Kilmar Ábrego García, now 31, who became a cause célèbre on the left after being dragged back to his native El Salvador in defiance of a court order that said he couldn’t be sent there.
Garcia, who the Trump administration claimed was a member of notorious Salvadoran gang MS-13, was eventually brought back to the US and is currently fighting against being deported to a third country.
As the plane England used made its way back to its home base in Miami, other GlobalX planes were flying their regular routes with flight tracking apps showing two headed to Cap Hatien in Haiti from Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Another was headed back from Guatemala City to Alexandria, Louisiana, where ICE operates a 400-bed staging facility for deportees.
England’s players appeared happier to be traveling on the plane than some other passengers
The plane is a GlobalX charter that has formed part of the US government’s ‘ICE Air’ fleet
The plane England flew was routinely used for deportation flights and rarely takes the altogether more glamorous route from swank Palm Beach to Kansas City.
Flight tracking history shows the jet made a string of deportation flights in the days leading up to England’s ride, with the plane used to shuttle deportees from Lewisburg, West Virginia, to Mexico City on June 11 and from Harlingen to Villahermosa in Mexico’s southern Tabasco state on June 10.
The Iran World Cup team also flew on the same plane from their base in Tijuana, Mexico, to Los Angeles on Sunday ahead of their opening game against New Zealand. From Los Angeles, it flew back to Alexandria.
The English Football Association, which booked the England flight, is notoriously woke and has jumped on most progressive bandwagons. Harry Kane was among the captains determined to wear a Pride armband at the last World Cup in Qatar until the English FA backed down after their star man was threatened with a yellow card if he did.
A spokesman declined to comment on the team’s use of the plane when contacted by Daily Mail.
England had been based in Palm Beach, Florida, while making their final preparations for the tournament which culminated in a 3-0 exhibition match victory over Costa Rica on June 10.
England’s players are now training ahead of their opening World Cup match on Wednesday
Donald Trump ordered three GlobalX planes, including the one used by England’s World Cup squad, in his abortive attempt to deport Kilmar Ábrego García
The team hit a snafu last week when thieves targeted the Kansas City training camp, stealing $18,000 of equipment.
Boots belonging to the team’s biggest stars were pinched along with official tournament balls and key training equipment.
The stolen equipment was recovered and two men were arrested this week.
They are among the favorites for World Cup glory and will be based in Kansas City for the tournament, although their group matches are in Dallas, Boston and New Jersey.
As a result, the English Football Association will need to continue to charter planes for the duration, with the closest venue – Dallas – over an hour’s flight away from the team’s base.
The Three Lions start their campaign in the Texan metropolis on Wednesday when they are scheduled to face Croatia in the opening game of Group L.